Hisa Bokyum Suh: Conscious Jewelry

Hisa Bokyum (Korea) was one of the finalists at the International Talent Support 2015, the most important international event for new young talent in the world of design.

Her jewelry is a delicious mix of art and design; it walks the line between jewelry and the most sophisticate art, full of color and strength. A lover of oriental philosophy and believer in the concept of eternity, Hisa Bokyum Suh uses her hands to tell us stories and make us reflect on the meaning of life, and our lives.

SO CATCHY!: Why did you decide to focus your life on jewelry?

HISA BOKYUM: This may be disappointing but I started to make art and design because I love it and one of the things I started to make was jewelry. To be honest, I am not planning to focus my life only on jewelry. Although I love jewelry, I love designs that include jewelry in themselves. I will continue doing things in my life that I like and love.

SC!: Tell us about your experience in the International Talent Support this year.

HB: It was great seeing the great designs of people with totally different backgrounds and thinking but it was even better becoming their friends and being able to share in their inspiration and passion.

I was really happy to have the opportunity to show my work to all the Jury members and to my Finalist friends and to hear their thoughts.

Even now, I am truly grateful to Barbara and all ITS members for giving me such an opportunity.

SC!: Let´s talk about your SWAROVSKI Project you designed for the contest: Brag on SNS.

HB: The theme of my Swarovski project is “BRAG on SNS”.

It is about the types of self exposure and self production that some people display on social network services.

For example, there are “HUMBLEBRAGS”, when for example, people blame themselves for a mistake made on a trip in Paris when they actually just want to boast about their awesome life, or “Emotion parading types” who try to heighten dramatic effects by putting up fabulous pictures and anguished poetic text to show how abundantly sensitive they are, and while these images of “me” that modern people leave on social networks seem like confessions of their personal lives, they are actually just dramatizations.

Thus the core of my project is empty jewelry. I don’t know if you can tell from the pictures, but the gaps between the structures are all empty. Like illusions floating in the air.

Also, the exterior sides of the piece were made with scenes captured from romantic Korean movies or dramas, printed on transparent film paper. Through this, it delivers the message that while they may want their lives to look like the movies, they are just illusions and nothing more.

The design of this jewelry becomes complete when it is worn.

Jewelry lets us stand out and it has also often been used as a way to express one’s own place or power, or in other words, one’s value of existence, throughout history.

Eventually, people wanting to verify their own values of existence as they write their own scripts in SNS worlds can be considered to be of a similar context.

This work was an essential portion of ITS participation but it was so enjoyable.

SC!: What do you want to tell people with your first work: “Everlasting Beauty”?

HB: My main collection is contradictory jewelry. Everlasting beauty! Unchanging love! Many jewelry advertisements since long ago have put in messages such as “everlasting love” and “lasting beauty”. People who search for those brands after seeing those ads inherently desire everlastingness and continuousness.

While the message of my main collection, which states “All living things fade away”, has been brought from Eastern philosophy, my jewelry holds an intrinsic desire towards everlastingness and continuousness.

All existing things exist only in a moment. I wanted to deliver the message that people want to make moments last and that they want to verify their own existence by possessing a continuation of moments.

SC!: What´s your favorite material to work with?

HB: I think that everything we see in our daily lives can be used as material for making jewelry. I don’t have material that I especially like the most. Presently I want to develop even more material.

SC!: In your opinion, what is the perfect piece of jewelry?

HB: Frankly, I don’t think that jewelry has to fit into a certain frame. People all have different tastes and thoughts so I don’t think there is an essential element that constitutes great jewelry.

I think that such thoughts allow me to create much more liberal and unconstrained styles of jewelry.

SC!: Things that inspire you to create…

HB: I am inspired by everything around me including nature and all things from my daily life but lately, I am interested in the inner world of man and in Eastern philosophies.

SC!: What’s your next step?

HB: I want to run a jewelry business with my friend.

SC!: Your impossible dream is…

HB: I want to make jewelry including a philosophical message by which people can think about the world in several viewpoints.

SC!: Do you plan to sell online anytime soon?

HB: I am having constant discussions with my business partner about that. At present, we are having discussions about beginning with an online shop.

SC!: Jewelry designers or brands you admire…

HB: There are so many but my favorite designer is Dean Harris, a designer who draws true human nature in a positive direction.